13" International Research/Expert Conference Trends in the Development of Machinery and Associated Technology” TMT 2009, Hammamet, Tunisia, 16-21 October 2009 QUALITY INSURANCE OF WELDING WORK FOR HYDRO-POWER STEEL PENSTOCKS, Ismar Hajro, M.Sc.Mech.Eng. Damir Hodiié, M.Sc.Mech.Eng. Faculty of Mechanical Engine: Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Vilsonovo Setaliste 9, Sarajevo Vilsonovo etaliite 9, Sarajevo Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ABSTRACT Penstocks for hydro-power plants are mostly fabricated as pressure water steel pipelines. In addition, there are a several approaches for mechanical design and further installation practice. as well for quality insurance activities. While American standards full} cover all related activities (ASCE M79, AWWA MII, AWWA C206}, there is luck of specific and consalidated support in European regulation. Itseems that major welding quality insurance activities are covered by EN 12732 (which i a standard for gas supply systems) and by EN 10224 for base material for steel water tubes). In addition, it ‘seems that some major European companies, involved in penstock design and manufacture have been developed their own practices and regulations. Particularly, for designers it 8 of special concern, how to define appropriate methods and amount of non-destructive testing, especially while considering long (over Skm) and large diameter penstocks (over 2.5m), as well as relatively high working pressures (over 10barg). For such design condition, and in accordance to EN 12732, itis a quite reasonable to widen and straighten non-destructive testing, but consequently fabricators are facing significant fabrication costs Therefore, this paper should outline some basic approaches and comparison of welding quality insurance, related to design and manufacture of welded steel penstocks, as well as suggestion for ‘methods and amount of non-destructive testing related to design inputs. Keywords: hydro-power plant, penstock, welding, quality insurance 1. PREFACE, AA penstock, as a part of hydro-power plant, is the pressure conduit between the turbine and the first ‘open water upstream from the turbine. Therefore, a penstock should be as hydraulically efficient as practical to conserve available head, and structurally safe to prevent failure which would result in loss of life and property. From available materials for penstock construction, a most desirable one is scl, due to the fact that steel pipe possesses many desirable qualities (or requirements) of any good conduit: strength and toughness, durability and long service life, coonomy of installation and maintenance, permanent high-carrying capacity, ductility and adaptability, reliability and resilience, watertight joints [1,4 Over the Years, rigid specifications have been developed covering the chemical and mechanical oquiroments ofthe steel fiom which the pipe is made. Great strides have been made in the fabrication, inspection, testing, joining, and coating of steel pipe. Welded steel pipe of high quality is avsilabe in the widest range of sizes (up to 240” or 6,0m), grades (over 690 MPa yield stress), wall thicknesses and lengths (1) There are Varieties of penstock implementation, as underground, aboveground, mousted within dams, cee, Each kind of implementation has its characteristics design approaches, while considering all respective loads. One of the most detailed European approaches to consider loads for pipeline design 89js provided in Eurocode EN 1993 4-3, while respective code for welds design is EN 1993 1-8 However, there is no particular European standard which cover requirements for penstocks welding fabrication and its associated quality insurance. It seems that standard for gas supply systems (e.. pipelines), EN 12732, is mostly associated with welding work on penstocks, while EN 10224 is associated with quality requirements of pipeline materials (2) Likewise, American codes for penstock design are more consolidated. The most general are ASCE Steel Penstocks Manual No.79, and AWWA M11 (Steel Water Pipe - A Guide for Design and Installation), while particularly field welding work for steel water pipe is specified in AWWA C206. ‘Whichever code is applied for penstock design and fabrication, it will be shown (in Par.2. Codes Considerations) that achievement of desirable qualities of steel penstocks, as durability, integrity and optimized fabrication costs, are most significant designer’ issues. It should be noted that this paper does not have any intention to underestimate all required aspects of pipeline, or penstock, design, which can not be claborated further due to such paper size. Only basic relation between required penstock pipe thickness, allowable boop stress, and required amount of NDT testing ae presented in this paper. Figure 1 Installation of underground mortar coated siel penstack (by Welded Stee! Pipe) 2. PENSTOCK FABRICATION TESTING AND INSPECTION To provide required quality assurance of any kind of fabricated welded stcel pipeline, as well as of penstocs, i sa common practice to perform sufficient type and amount of NDT testing of welds, as Well as to perform hydro-test. However, complete quality insurance shall inclde all other activities related t0 Weldizg work preparation, qualification, performance, and provision of adjacent tecnical documentation. In addition, European standards (EN ISO 3834) recognize as well as companies qualifications for welding fabrication of appropriate level. Likewise, American regulations recognize company qualification in accordance to ASME Code For NDT testing, a radiographic testing (RT) is most reliable. RT is normally applied only to butt welds For welds tht cannot be satisfactorily inspected by RT, as for example some ofthe welds on branch outlets and wyes, or fillet welds, other NDT methods of inspection can be used. Methods availabe ae: magnetic pail testing (MT, ultasone testing (UT), and vasious methods using dye penetrants (PT), Of these, MT will ony disclose defects close to or extending to the surface. Tae UT rethod requires considerable experience on the part ofthe inspector but itis suitable for detecting internal defects. PT is suitable only for locating surface discontiuities (4). “The purpose ofthe hydrostatic field testis primarily to determine i the field joints are watenight. A proof hydrostatic test on the penstock after installation is most desirable. Ifthe entire penstock eannot be tested hydrostatcally, individual sections may be tested in the shop after they have been RT-tsted. Soch partial pre-insallation testing is also required, i feasible, to pipe segments. Hydrostatic tests should be performed at a pressure sufficient to prove the adequacy ofall pipes and welds with the required margin of safety. Specification of hydro-test pressure is of particular demand. Generally, hydro-test pressure should be between 1 to 1,5 of maximum allowable working pressure (MAW), but never such high to produce hoop stess more than 90% of penstock material yield stess (Ry) Here, it should be mentioned, that MAWP should be based on static head (pressure for normal id flow) and dynamic pressure caused by water hammer or surge effects. While considering this important relation between MAW? and hydro-tst pressure, one design approach, with significant safety consideration, may be to select allowable hoop stress in range of 0.5%Ryx. (based on MAWP), “while hydrostatic test pressure should never produce oop stres higher than 0,75*Ry. 904. coves CONSIDERATIONS dy SORES Conse St An Ameren areca canson pric, be desopent of sca esock ecicnis SMWASIDL soe tncroine! ASME Dole tol ne Val Code So fal pean nies knee Beit ete iaor hoes aalhading Neto, fr ysl pe po i ay od cg vino nag Neves is based on (4): — oe econ + tao Phy Debit otpin te ‘Maximum allowable working pressure (MAWP), Hop on ves. c= Aloale eea nyil s ) Joint efficiencies, , for are-welded pipe depend on the type of joint and the degree of examination of ‘the longitudinal and circumferential joints. The ASME code stipulates a maximum allowable joint efficiency of e=/ percent for double-welded butt joints completely RT-tested, and of e=0,7 if RT examination is omitted, Corresponding joint efficiencies for single-welded but joints without or with backing strips ars e=0,9 and e=0,65, respectively. If RT spot examination is used, allowable joint efficiencies are 15% (or 1,15 times) higher than for non-radiographed joints. OF course, joint efficiencies and RT inspection procedures conform to the requirements of the ASME code [4]. In addition, i s common practices that amount of NDT testing depend on level of boop stress due to MAWP. The higher is hoop stress, the extensive is NDT testing. It is obvious that type and amount of ‘NDT testing of penstock field welds is strongly dependable on working condition and penstock design approach. ‘Therefore, someone may conclude that design approach must be optimized between penstock thickness over-dimensioning (lower hoop stresses, eg. less than 0,25 R,.), consequent lesser NDT, Dut higher welding fabrication costs on one side, and dimensioning as minimum as required (higher hhoop stresses, 8. up to 0,75" Ry), considerable NDT, but lesser welding fabrication cost on other side. The corresponding reduction in plat thickness and weight is often sufficient to defray the cost of NDT inspection. Here, for complete reduction of fabrication costs, including NDT costs, itis of special importance application of high-sirength steels, even higher than 690 MPa yield stress. 3.2 An European approach Table 1, Recommended quality requirements ‘A basie approach of EN 12732 (gas supply according to BN 12732 standard) for penstock’s welding works i in a Selection of quality requirement category (CR- [-__cummmemnms FTE a category). There are four (4) categories, from "ante ws-ziceumieem, [ORE Teer [REE [REE Ato D, depending on operating pressure and pipe material. For exantple, most strict CR- taregory is D, for pipelines with operating ome [or [err [RE pressure higher that 16 bar, and for low ee EL Alloyed C, CMa, microalloyed and quenched | rcenmranesisswesewss [wee tres [= and tempered stels. Further, in accordance to [Stent ewaen CRecategors, a quality esiegory of fabricator |vesrgeeneve: gure Gollowing table) is) defined as well as [essueeise® © [wee [rer [ree [nee inspection of welded joints and acceptance | "asegpeniaas lee [er [REL vo Pie.| nee | or obec tee criteria. Therefore, for example, for D CR- category, the following is minimum extent of NDT testing: all welds 100%VT, while other methods extent is, for circumferential welds 20%RT, longitudinal seams 100%RT/UT, Weld joints not included in the pressure test 100%RTV/UT, if pipelines/units are laid or . installed in built-up areas or pipelines on ipsa en racog 7 CUMentn sno ON 268 hw bree a1